Amelia Wants Her Two Front Teeth for Christmas

Amelia had a great first Christmas, despite being slightly sick and cranky. She'd been running a fever, had a runny nose, and is trying to break in her two front teeth. This lead to us having a quiet Christmas Eve. We were able to get her to smile for some photos in her Christmas pjs courtesy of Nana. They came with adorable reindeer slippers that Amelia decided to play with instead of wear.
After she went to bed, Matt performed the rite of having to put together presents from Santa. Thankfully it wasn't too complicated, but we didn't realize that her present from Santa even needed to be put together.

Christmas morning (after going back to bed at a 5:30 feeding and letting us sleep till 7:30) Amelia enjoyed her first Christmas morning. She loves the dinosaur ride on/walker toy that we got her. She's managed to figure out how to go backwards while riding it, and is working on moving forward. She does need a little help with the mounting and dismounting without landing on her head.
She was very intrigued by her stocking, and that toys and books kept coming out of it. She immediately started studying so she'll be up on her football knowledge. After opening and playing with presents she needed a quick nap, during which she missed the snowflakes making it a "white Christmas", a first for me as well.

Amelia also checked out what Teddy got in her stocking. She's beginning to understand that some toys aren't hers and Teddy is doing well with her riding around on a singing dinosaur.


Matt's parents and some friends joined us for dinner/dessert and enjoying the rest of the day. We managed to not take any pictures the rest of the day, but a great time was had. Especially by Amelia. She's a ham and enjoys being the center of attention. It also gave her something to think about instead of her teeth.

Amelia (and her parents) hope you all had a great holiday as well.

Amelia's First Snow Storm

Yesterday we had our first real snow storm of the year. Conveniently Matt was in San Francisco, so I dug us out of a full 2 inches of powder. I think it took 10 minutes. It actually took me more time to find everything that I needed than it did to do the shoveling. I went to go pick up Amelia after I was done shoveling. While we were still bundled up we went in the backyard and let Teddy run around like a maniac. (The snow makes everything smell different, so the entire yard needs to be rechecked.) Amelia's outfit didn't have mittens so I let her touch the snow. She put her hand in it, pulled it out, looked at me and started crying. She also wasn't interested in sitting in the snow either. Maybe we'll try again when we have a little more snow.

Instead we had an early dinner and a bath, followed by playtime. This is Amelia in one of the quieter moments of play. As you can see, this child does not sit still for more than 2 seconds. Please pardon the quality of the video. I'm still trying to figure out my new phone.

The Start of Christmas

For Amelia's first Christmas we've introduced her to a couple of traditions. The first was the awkward meeting with Santa. My aunt was kind enough to invite us to brunch with Santa at her country club. She was also kind enough to pick the 11:30 seating instead of the 9am. The group at our table included a number of children under the age of 5 (my cousin's in-law family all came with their small children as well.) Some got the idea of Santa, but most were still a little too small to understand. One of the cousins wanted a Barbie that trains dogs to swim. I thought she had totally made that up, but it turns out it's an actual Barbie. There's also one that has Barbie potty training puppies. I think she made the right choice.

Amelia did well being held by Santa, but was immediately confused when he handed her a puppy dog toy and called it a bear. You could tell she wanted to correct him. Or maybe I'm just projecting a little. :)

It rapidly got awkward and she was ready to be done. The lesson for next year is that Amelia needs more eggnog before we send her to Santa.

The club was decorated beautifully for the holidays. There were also Balloonologists (people who make balloon animals) and face painters. We decided to skip that this year, but we did try and get a nice family photo.

Amelia only cooperated from a distance.


The weekend after brunch, we picked out our Christmas tree. As I am slightly obsessed with Christmas, this was a very big deal. We found a Christmas tree lot in the playground of a local church, and picked out just the right size. It was Amelia approved and we were set to go. (Note: we put the tree on a side table so Amelia and Teddy can't reach the branches or the ornaments or the presents shoved under the table. Otherwise we would totally have one of those trees that barely fits in the house.)

Last weekend we had a visit from Matt's mom and step-dad. I would have pictures from it, but Amelia would not stop moving the entire time. She barely stopped to eat, and was very enamored of her new toys. One of them plays a song that I can already hear in my dreams. But she loves the music and claps along with it, so we deal. We also had a short visit from Auntie She and Uncle Mike, with daughter Becca who brought in even more presents! Amelia was a little overwhelmed, but very excited. Most importantly she got her stocking that her great grandmother (Matt's father's mother) knitted for her, so she's all set for Santa. I did decide to hold off on celebrating Santa Lucia Day for a couple more years. I think I was in my teens before I had to put the ring of lit candles on my head, so she can wait a couple of years before her light bulb version.

Amelia has now mastered pulling herself up, and is slowly working on pivoting while standing and has cruised a couple of steps. At the rate she's been going, I'm assuming she'll be full on walking sometime in January. At that point I think we're going to have to put a collar with a bell on her just to keep track of her. She loves to follow people around and needs to know what's going on at all times. I'm not sure how it happened, but I think she inherited some traits from Teddy.

That's all for now, but I promise more pictures and video soon. We've just been so tired from chasing her, that we practically fall asleep right when we put her down. Which wouldn't be so lame except she goes to bed at 7.

Happy holidays to all.